In a dark forest
by marinenerd01
Summary: An strange and unexpected journey
1. Chapter 1

**Author's Notes: Hey everyone, this is an idea that I have had bouncing around in my head for a while so I thought I would give it a go. I own nothing Nickelodeon owns Avatar the Last Airbender and BioWare and EA own Dragon Age.**

_Some things are so unexpected that no one is prepared for them-Leo Rosten _

Aang looked around, a mixture of fear and his natural curiosity forming within him. The last thing he remembered was going to bed after planning for the invasion of the Fire Nation. He had been really stressed out and had had trouble sleeping but they had at last helped him relax enough to fall asleep and when he opened his eyes he was here, wherever here was. It looked nothing like the Spirit World.

It was dark, as if it were very late at night. The ground was rocky but it felt wrong in some way that he could not quite explain. Rising up from the ground were stone columns, some of which had blue spiral veins in them. Looking up Aang could see no stars, though it appeared to be night time. To his surprise instead of stars there were floating islands of rock in the sky.

There was one thing that caught his eye, high above him, floating among the other islands, was a massive black shape. Unlike the others it was not moving but standing still in the sky. It was larger than the others and appeared to be man-made. It was a city composed of a mass of black spires. To Aang it seemed like a king looming over his subjects. Aang quickly looked away, just looking at it made him uneasy, he felt a sense of wrongness from it, as if something terrible had happened there. Not sure what else to do he started walking.

As he walked he got an uneasy feeling, one which he was all too familiar with, the feeling of being watched. He whirled around seeking the source of his unease but saw no one.

"Who are you?! Show yourself!" He called out. At first there was nothing but then a movement caught his eye. It was a floating ball of bluish white light, looking around Aang saw several more of them. As soon as Aang focused on them they shot towards him. Bending did not work in the Spirit World, if that was where he was, but he instinctively went into a defensive crouch, but they did not attack him. They circled around him as if they were investigating, if they had had noses Aang was certain that they would have been smelling him. They seemed fascinated by him, his tattoos, his robes all of it. Gradually, Aang relaxed and smiled.

"Hello there, I am Aang, who are you?" They did not answer, of course, but they seemed to understand him. "I need to go home." This they did not seem to understand. "Could you help me?" This they did seem to understand as they flitted off, which Aang interpreted as them wanting him to following. Not having anything else to do he set off after them. He was not sure how long they walked, or even in what direction, the ground and the rock islands seemed to shift and alter constantly, only the city-like structure seemed to remain fixed in its position.

Suddenly the area around him began to alter, the rocks rising up to form walls and roofs. His strange guides vanished but Aang hardly noticed them go, he was too busy staring at the transformation going on around him. Buildings were being raised all around him but familiar and utterly alien, they seemed a bizarre mixture of Air Nomad and Earth Kingdom architecture. Even as they formed they began to burn and blacken till Aang was surrounded by burning buildings. Then came howling of people burning alive, Aang looked about but could not see anyone, only hear them. To his horror he was certain he heard his friends.

"Katara! Sokka! Toph! Where are you?!" He cried as he looked about but he could not see anything through the smoke as he ran through the burning buildings. Then came the laughter. It was a low bass laughter and filled with malicious glee.

"They will die, you will fail and they will die. As have all who have ever trusted you." Aang heard movement behind him, he turned around and froze in horror. It was his people! The Air Nomads, but they were dead. Their flesh was burned and charred bones poked through. Leading them was Monk Gyatso. As they approached they began to speak.

"You abandoned us." They said in unison; their voices emerging from burned throats in little more than hoarse whispers. "We needed you, you ran away and we died." The monks were then joined by others, Katara, Sokka and Toph.

"We will fail and we will die. You already did." Katara said; "I brought you back once, I cannot do it again. When you die again it will be forever." Aang backed away, fighting back a rising sense of panic. This wasn't real! This could not be real! That was it! This wasn't real. He sank into a meditative pose and focused inward, clearing himself of all fear and past grief, just as he had when he Guru Pathik had taught him to let go of the pain of the loss of his people. He focused on the joy that he had known among the Air Nomads and forced away the grief that their memory caused.

He turned his mind to his friends in the present. He acknowledged the fear that had, of them and or himself dying and the fear of separation that that caused. He took that fear and let it go as well. When He opened his eyes and saw that the sectors had vanished, as had the burning buildings.

"Well that was disappointing." Said the voice from before. Aang turned around and at last beheld the speaker. Aang had never seen anything like it. It was dressed in tattered black hood tied with a rope at its waist. It had grey and loose skin, it had small eyes and large incisors which gave it a rodent like appearance and it also had large hands and feet. To Aang it was more hideous than Koh the Face Stealer.

"Yes, very disappointing. There is such despair and grief in in you young dreamer, it is truly delectable. Yet you deny them."

"What are you?" Aang asked. "What is your name?"

"What I am is despair and that is what I want you to feel." With that it attacked. It rose up into the air and launched blasts of ice at Aang.

Without thinking Aang jumped to the side, instinctively using airbending to push himself further away. To his amazement his element responded though not as smoothly as it usually did, it almost seemed as if it were struggling against him, or as if something was wrong with the air. Still, it was more than he had hoped for.

His thoughts were interrupted by the creature launching a fresh assault. Knowing now that he could bend in this strange realm he reached out to seize the ice shards being shot at him. To his surprise he found that he could barely influence them. They were made of ice but they did not feel like water should it was…strange. He had intended to shoot them back at his opponent but he found that he could barely affect them and was forced to jump away again. He reached out to the earth but again the results were disappointing, it felt more like sludge than solid stone. He regretted his lack of knowledge of firebending and his continued inability to enter the Avatar State.

His opponent flew about from point to point, sometimes higher sometimes lower, and at each point it launched attacks of ice. Aang, focusing primarily airbending, was able to evade most of the attacks and launch several attacks of his own. However, these were hampered by unpredictability of the air that he was bending, at times the attacks were stronger or weaker than he wanted them to be and at times they would veer from their intended course. Finally, some of the attacks of the creature got through and several ice bolts speared Aang and with a cry of pain he fell to the ground.

As the creature drew close to him Aang tried to get up but he was unable to do so. He tried to bend at it but with his wounds his already slippery control deserted him entirely, leaving him helpless on the ground. Seeing this the creature landed and walked towards him.

"Ah, now this is more like it. I do so love that look you have, the look of hope dying when one realizes all has been lost and one sees that there is only despair. Truly it is a look of beauty." It approached closer, clearly intending to deal the killing blow. Then the situation changed again.

"AWAY CREATURE!" Cried a powerful voice from behind Aang's attacker. The attacker spun to face the newcomer. This gave Aang his first view of his savior.

It was a tall man, at last it was shaped like a man. He was a golden white and clad from head to foot in elaborate armor of a design which Aang did not recognize as well as a shield and sword. He aimed a powerful blow at the creature. It flew back into the air and launched more ice bolts but the man brought up his shield and blocked them and then moved to stand between Aang and the creature. It hung in the air for a moment, clearly evaluating its odds against the newcomer and Aang. Clearly it did not favor its odds as it turned and vanished. Slowly Aang was able to clamber to his feet.

"Thank you." He said, bowing in the traditional manner of the Air Nomads.

"No thanks are necessary mortal. I merely fulfill my purpose." Aang did not understand.

"What purpose is that?"

"I am Guardian, a spirit which defends the weak. Might I have your name dreamer?"

"I am Aang, why did you call me dreamer?"

"This is the Fade the land of dreams. Did you not know this? Are you not a mage?"

"Mage? What is that?" The spirit turned to stare down at him.

"I observed you employ magic against the demon. Not very well mind you but surely you know of magic."

"That was not magic, that was bending."

"I have never heard of this 'bending'"

"Well I have never heard of the Fade."

"The Fade is the realm of dreams, of spirits and demons. It is strange that you have never heard of it." Aang stopped and stared at him.

"This is the Spirit World?!"

**Author's Notes: Hey everyone, this is just an idea that has been bouncing around for some time. I read that magic works strangely in the Fade so I did the same to his bending. Do you think that Aang overcame the illusion too easily? I look at as something that still hurts him but he has come to terms with. Let me know what you think and if you have any suggestions let me know. Till next time please pray for the Japanese held by ISIS and all others who need prayer. Bye and may Jesus bless you.**


	2. Chapter 2

**Authors Notes: Hey everyone, I am glad that people liked the first chapter and I hope that you like this one as well, as always I own nothing.**

_In extreme situations, the entire universe becomes our foe…-Morihei Ueshiba_

"Yes," Guardian responded, seemingly unfazed by Aang's outburst; "The Fade is the realm of spirits. Though I will admit that I have never heard of a dreamer calling the Fade the Spirit World." Aang was confused.

"What do you mean when you say dreamer?"

"You said that you are not a mage and the only other time that mortals enter the Fade is when they dream so you must be, so it stands to reason that you are dreaming."

"But I have been to the Spirit World before and not only was I not dreaming but it looked nothing like this. And while I have seen spirits before I have never seen spirits like you and that… other one."

"That is indeed strange. I have heard that the each dreamer and mage see different things in the Fade but I find it odd that you have never seen demons if you have been to the Fade before." At the spirits words Aang paled.

"Demons! I've never heard of demons before, only spirits."

"Then whoever taught you failed to properly instruct you. While I myself am not one to engage in long and learned discussions I know one who may be able to answer your questions."

"Who?" Aang asked.

"Wisdom." Guardian replied.

Aang was not sure how long they walked but as they did so Aang saw that the area around them was again changing. It was not a scene of horror and death as it had before; instead it was a brightly lit forest. Tall trees rose up all around them and bright sun shone through the trees like, the whole scene struck Aang as both peaceful and beautiful. He then became aware of the presence of another, turning he saw a woman approaching them.

Like Guardian she shone with whitish gold light. Unlike him she wore no armor and her face was bare. To Aang she seemed to have an ageless beauty and kind and wise eyes. As she drew near she nodded in a friendly fashion to Guardian and then turned to smile at Aang.

"I welcome you to my home again noble Guardian. And I also greet you for the first time young dreamer." Aang bowed to her in the fashion of his people.

"I thank you for your kind welcome and allowing me into your home."

"I thank and greet you as well Wisdom." Said Guardian. "It has been too long since we last spoke. Alas, I do not come here merely for the pleasure of your company. Some wisps informed me that this dreamer was under attack by a despair demon. I immediately went to his defense and drove it away. This youth claims to never have heard of the Fade or magic, though I did observe him performing magic. He says he has heard of spirits but not demons. Since you love seeking out the truth of such things I thought that perhaps you might be able to provide some answers." At this Wisdom smiled.

"I shall certainly attempt to do so Guardian."

"I shall leave him in your charge. I fear that I cannot remain, there are others who are in need of my aid." He turned to nod to Aang.

"Farewell, young dreamer, I hope my friend can aid you." Aang bowed to him in turn.

"Farewell guardian spirit, I thank you for your aid and I wish you good fortune." Guardian thanked him and then departed. After he withdrew Aang and Wisdom turned to regard one another.

"Will you walk with me?" Wisdom asked; "I find it both very pleasant and conducive to thought." Aang willing accented and they began to walk through the trees. After a time Wisdom began to speak.

"Is it true that you know nothing of the Fade? I that to be very strange."

"It is true," Aang said; "I have been to the Spirit World before but it was nothing like this. Well mostly nothing like this." He amended, remembering his visit to the abode of Koh the Face Stealer.

"Very well," Wisdom said. "The Fade is the realm beyond the world of men. It is the realm of spirits and it is where mortals come when they dream, though mages, those who can work magic, may come here with their own power."

"But when I was in the Spirit World before it looked nothing like this place and the spirits that I met were nothing like you and Guardian. I have never heard of…demons before."

"Interesting." Wisdom said. "Why don't you tell me about what you have seen and the spirits you have met?" So Aang told her of the spirits he had met, the spirit of the forest, the moon spirits and even of Koh the Face Stealer.

"Fascinating." Wisdom said after he had finished speaking. "Well as for the differences in the various areas that is easy to explain. Most spirits are fascinated by the world of the living and they attempt to mimic it but they, for the most part, can only see the mortal world in the dreams of mortals and so they attempt to recreate what they see in the Fade.

"The spirits that you describe are more curious. Many of them seem to be tied to certain places in the real world, forests and the moon and so on. I must confess that is unusual, spirits may be bound to a place but it does not sound as if that is what happened to those you spoke of. Indeed, is seems as if the spirits at the North Pole chose to do so willingly."

"Are not the spirits here linked to places in the real world?" Aang asked, Wisdom shook her head.

"As our names suggest we spirits imitate aspects of humanity; Guardian, as he may have said, represents the desire to protect others whereas I represent wisdom. There are others who represent different virtues such as faith, valor, compassion and others."

"And what about the…others, like the one which attacked me?" Wisdom looked sad.

"The demons. They are spirits which embody the negative aspects of humanity. Rage, hunger, desire, and more. They come into being when spirits are denied their true purpose, or when their purpose is twisted or perverted. The one that attacked you, for example, was a despair demon. But once it was a spirit of hope. It tried to bring hope to mortals by taking their despair into itself. Unfortunately, it took too much and the despair consumed and it began to grow strong from it. Now it seeks to torment mortals which come to the Fade with their worst fears and traumas to cause them to despair that he may feed on it." Aang stared at her in horror.

"Are all of them like that?"

"Not all, some are overwhelmed like that one was, others chose to be the way that they are. They prefer to prey on mortals rather than help them."

"And you?" Aang asked. She smiled benevolently.

"I rarely have dealings with mortals. When I do I help them. I only appear to mortals who seek wisdom."

"You remind me of Wan Shi Tong, well except your nicer than he was." Aang said with a small laugh. "Also I want to thank you for helping me."

"I could do nothing less, Guardian is an old friend of mine and I wanted to meet you Balance."

"Balance?" Aang asked confused.

"I saw right away that you are a spirit as well, a spirit of balance if I am not mistaken and that is why I call you Balance. Though you are also human, I must confess that I have never seen or heard of such a thing."

"I am the Avatar, both spirit and human, my duty is to bring balance between the spirit and the human worlds," he shrugged ruefully; "Though I fear I have not had a great deal of success." Wisdom looked at him curiously.

"I have never heard of the Avatar, or any of the other spirits that you mentioned. And you have never heard of the Fade or the spirits and demons which reside here."

"Do you mean…" Aang started and then his voice trailed off.

"Yes, I believe that your world and the world I know are two different places."

"How can that be possible?" Aang asked, his voice stunned.

"Is it really so hard to believe? In the whole vast universe which do you find harder to believe, that there is only one world with life or that there are many?" Aang, when put it that way she did make a lot of sense. He started to ask something else when he saw that everything was fading.

"What is going on?" He asked, struggling to keep the panic from his voice.

"Don't worry Balance. Like I said, the Fade is the realm of dreams you are waking up."

"Will I see you again?" Aang asked.

"Perhaps. If you ever return I would very much like to speak to you again."

"Aang! Hey Aang!" Sokka called out. Aang got up and looked around. He was back in the Fire Nation and around him were his friends.

"About time Twinkle-Toes!" Toph interjected; "Were you going to sleep the day away?"

"You two, really!" Katara interjected. "He finally gets a good sleep and you want to wake him up."

"So," Sokka asked; "No bad dreams then?" Aang was about to answer but he found the details were already slipping away but he remembered a kind face.

"No," he said; "No bad dreams."

**Author's Notes: Hey everyone, sorry that it has taken me so long to update. What did you think? I have decided to make this a series, having more of the characters go into the fade. Who should meet what? Let me know your thoughts. Till next time please pray for the victims of sickness and violence and all who need prayer. Bye and may Jesus bless you.**


	3. Chapter 3

**Author's Notes: Hey everyone I hope you liked the last chapter. As I said, I plan to make more chapters these will not be in a liner line so just roll with it. As always I own nothing. Spoilers for Dragon Age Inquisition. **

_Love and compassion are necessities, not luxuries. Without them humanity cannot survive-Dalai Lama_

Azula crouched in a corner in her cell, her hands clutched tightly to her ears as she tried to shut the voices out. It did no good, no matter what she did she could not shut them out. She screamed as they seemed to rise in volume. For what seemed the thousandth time she cursed her brother and the Water Tribe peasant.

It was not fair! Zuzu had cheated! That was the only explanation! There was no way that he could have won their duel! Then that peasant had humiliated her. Then the Avatar…She shuddered and tried to draw her mind away from that memory but her mind, betraying her just as everyone else had, returned undeterred to **that **memory. She was still not quite sure what had happened, her mind had already broken at that point, what she did know was seared into her brain. He had appeared before her and had begun to glow, he had placed his hands on her and then everything had gone black and when she had awoken her bending was gone. They had brought her to this place and she had been here ever since, wherever here was. Sometimes people came to talk to her but their words made no sense to her and she was always so cold. She screamed again as the voices in her head rose in volume again.

"STOP ITSTOP ITSTOPIT!" She screamed but as always they paid her no heed. In desperation she began to bash her head against the wall, hoping to bash the voices out of her head. Her vision swam, stars appeared before her eyes and blood began to trickle down the side of her head. Yet still the voices persisted. In the end she just gave up and cried as the voices overwhelmed her. It was then that she became aware that someone was in her cell with her. She looked up, expecting one of the people who claimed to be doctors, though she hoped it was one of the others. Sometimes when she screamed they would jab her with needles, that would hurt but then she would get sleepy. She liked that, the voices didn't bother her when she was sleeping, sometimes she screamed just so they would do it again. At times she wished that they would give her enough that she would sleep forever. But when she focused on her attention on the newcomer she did not recognize him. He was not one of the doctors or any of the others.

He was a young man, he seemed late teens to early twenties, and he did not seem quite right. It was as if someone had made a person but was not quite sure what a person's face looked like. His most noticeable features were his hair, a strange yellowish color and his blue eyes. And his cloths were all wrong, they looked closer to peasant rags rather than the white clothes the people here wore.

"Who are you?" She demanded. She had meant for it to sound commanding and intimidating but her voice had grown hoarse and cracked from her near-constant screaming and crying. He did not respond, instead he came up and squatted down in front of her. He looked at her, as if he were looking through her and Azula got a strange feeling, as if a hand were running over her mind.

"So much pain, so much sadness." He said, his tone had a pitying quality to it. Azula felt anger stir in her. How dare this strange person pity her! She was Azula! The conquer of Ba Sing Se! Slayer of the Avatar and rightful Fire Lord!

"Don't you dare look down on me peasant!" She cried, she was rather proud of how loud she managed to get her voice. To her annoyance he seemed unfazed by her outburst.

"So much anger too." He paused. and she got the feeling of a hand running over her brain again. "You like the anger. If you're angry you aren't afraid, at least you can tell yourself you're not afraid."

"I am not afraid!" She snapped, though she could not muster the same force as she had before. As before he did not seem to notice her outburst.

"Yes, you are." His mind seemed to drift away and his voice took on a different quality.

"_Darkness, voices all around me, inside me, can't shut them out! Cold, so cold! Mommy I'm scared make it stop!"_

"Don't mention my mother!" Azula snapped. "She hated me and I hate her!" The man looked at her for a moment and a confused look came over his face.

"No you don't, not really. You tell yourself you do, you want to. Because of if you don't hate her then it will hurt."

"You don't know what you're talking about." Azula said, her voice barely more than a whisper, desperate to stop where this was going."

"_What is wrong with that child?"_

"See!" Azula screamed at the stranger. "That shows that she hated me!"

"No," the man; "She hated what you were. She didn't hate you."

"What do you mean?"

"You frighten people. You make people afraid so that they will do what you want them to. She did not like it when you did that, it made her sad."

"Of course I did! Fear is the only reliable way to control people!"

"That's not true._ I guess you just don't know people as well as you think you do. You miscalculated; I love Zuko more than I fear you_." Azula ground her teeth.

"Don't mention that traitor to me! She and Ty Lee turned their backs on me!"

"You wanted them to hurt people. You wanted them to do that because you were afraid."

"What are you taking about?" Azula said, she tried to make it a hiss but came out more a whisper.

"You were afraid that they would leave you. That's why you wanted them afraid of you. You thought that if they were afraid of you then they would never leave you like your mother did." Azula snorted.

"You're wrong, I could care less what that woman did."

"No, you wanted her love but you did not know how to get it. You hate your brother because he had what you wanted but could never have. But you could have, you only had to ask and she would have told you that she already loved you." The man cocked his head to the side to look at her curiously; "Why didn't you ask?"

"NO!" Azula screamed. "She hated me! I already told you that!"

"_No. I love you, Azula. I do."_

"SHE LIED! SHE LIED! SHE LIED!"

"No, she didn't. You wanted her to be lying because if she were then it would be her fault not yours." Azula wanted to deny it but she couldn't. She felt things, things that she had buried so deeply that she had forgotten. Something seemed to be bringing the memories and emotions to the surface. It was painful yet at the same time something was happening to the pain. It wasn't going away yet it seemed to dim, the pain less sharp and easier to face and to bear.

"What did you do?"

"So much, anger, cruelty, pain, so much. It twists and curls through all that you are so you can't not be it. I shake it and it comes loose so you can let it go." Azula thought about it, it would mean giving up everything that made her what she was. She would be empty, nothing. She shivered and tried to back away from him.

"I can't." She whispered.

"Yes, you can, you have to, it is a part of you and you can only change if you let it go. I know it will hurt, I'm sorry, but if you let it go you can heal. Isn't healing better than hurting? That's what Varric says." She looked at him for a moment then nodded.

"What do you have to do?"

"I don't. I shake it loose but you have to be the one to let it go. But there is something that I can do." He reached out with his hand and touched her forehead, his hand seemed to slide into her. Then he rose and turned to go.

"Wait! What is your name?" He turned and looked back at her.

"My friends call me Cole, but you won't remember me." Then he left, seeming to just vanish into thin air. As Azula stared at the wall she felt drained, her screams having exhausted her, slowed she slid into sleep.

When she awoke she felt something nagging at the back of her mind. Had there been someone there? She did not think so and the thought was already sliding from her mind. Still, she felt better than she had felt in a long time. The voices were still there but they seemed quieter than they had been before and she felt better than she had in ages and much warmer. Warmer? Yes, she did feel warmer, she wondered if…She held out her hand willed it. She nearly laughed as blue fire blossomed in it.

**Author's Notes: Hey everyone, hope you liked it. Told you I would be bouncing around the timeline. I was trying to not make her to sympathetic, using fear because she thought people would leave her if they didn't. As for the rest of it, since in Dragon Age a spirit can make a tranquil normal again by touching their minds I thought it would be the same for a bender having their bending taken away. Let me know if you liked it. Till next time please pray for Kayla Mueller, American held by ISIS who may have been killed, the Americans- held in Iran and all people held unjustly and all who need prayers. Bye and may Jesus bless you.**


	4. Chapter 4

**Author's Notes: Hey everyone, I will admit that I had left this story for a while and was thinking of doing so permanently but here we go, as always I own nothing.**

_True valor lies between cowardice and rashness-Miguel de Cervantes_

Sokka trudged through the battlefield and felt the urge to weep. All around him people lay on the ground, dead or dying. The invasion had failed and it was all his fault. He had planned the invasion of the Fire Nation down to the tiniest detail, but when the time came to execute it he had frozen and now everyone was dead. In despair he fell to his feet and when he heard someone coming up behind him he did nothing. Indeed, he found himself hoping that the person coming up would finish him off. The footsteps drew close and then stopped.

"Rise mortal," the individual spoke in a deep and resonate voice; "You are not beaten yet." Sokka had no idea what the man was talking about, but he recognized that the man did not have a Fire Nation accent.

His natural curiosity piqued, he turned to look at the speaker. It was a man, taller than many me Sokka had met and clad from head to foot in armor of a design that Sokka did not recognize. His interest was dampened by the memory of his failure and the deaths that that failure had caused.

"Yes, I am." He said.

"Nonsense." The man said. "You live and are still capable of facing the enemy."

"Look around us!" Sokka shouted at the man while simultaneously spreading his arms to encompass the bodies around them. "I failed, I froze and all of them died!" The man snorted.

"Can you not recognize the Fade mortal? This is but a dream."

Sokka was about to make an angry retort, but then paused. Though he saw the battlefield he did not remember the battle itself. Indeed, the last thing he remembered clearly was going to sleep after trying help Aang go to sleep.

"This is just a dream?" He asked, half hoping and half terrified at what the answer would be.

"Yes, this is but a dream, a reflection of your own fear that your courage will fail you when the time comes." Sokka found himself nodding in agreement, then a thought struck him.

"Who are you and how do you know all of this?"

"I am Valor, a spirit of the Fade drawn to the courage of mortals." Sokka stared at Valor, he looked like no spirit that Sokka had ever met, granted that was not saying much as he had met few spirits apart from Aang and none of them had appeared human like Valor did. Then a thought struck him.

"Why are you here?"

"I am Valor, I am drawn to the valor that I see in mortals, in the fade yours burns like a star." At this Sokka snorted derisively.

"You may have noticed," here he indicated the dream around them; "I am hardly the most valorous of people, this whole place is composed of my fear."

"That does not matter. Valor is not the absence of fear, rather it is the overcoming of fear which defines valor. I have seen your dreams mortal, I saw you stand alone against a mage whose power far surpasses your own. I have seen you struggle again and again and each time the odds were against you. You are afraid about what is to come, as you have been in every encounter. I cannot see the future and I do not know how things will end. What I do know is that your valor will not abandon you and when the time comes your fear shall not triumph." With that he seemed to just fade from existence.

Sokka stared where he had been for a moment and then turned. The carnage was gone. Instead it was his village and it was untouched by the war. His father was there, as was his mother and all those who had been lost to the war. All of them were looking at him and they all had looks of pride and his father was looking at him with the expression of respect that Sokka had longed to see on his father's face his entire life. He knew now that it was just a dream but it comforted him and when he awoke he found that the fear, while still present, had slid into the background. Like Valor he did not know how the battle would play out but he did know one thing. His fear would not win.

**Author's Notes: Hey everyone, I know that it was short but I hoped that you liked it. Any of the characters that you would like to see next and any particular kind of spirit? Let me know in the reviews. Till then please pray for a member of my family who has West Nile, the Christians persecuted everywhere for their faith, the family of the deputy killed in Carson City, victims of kidnapping and human trafficking and all others who need prayer. Bye and may Jesus bless you.**


	5. Announcement

Hello everyone, I promise I am working on the next chapter and I hope it will be a good one, I will try to get out at least one more before I break for Christmas. While I am working on them I would like to mention that a redo is going on in Las Vegas and that a man received a head injury last night and is believed to have suffered brain damage. Also a girl in Pakistan, Agnes Shaukat was kidnapped. Please pray for them and all who need it. I am aware that this is not a blog nor a place to make such requests but when I hear about such things I feel the need to mention them, I am sorry if this comes off as preachy or offensive to anyone as this is not my intent and I request your forbearance. Thanks and may Jesus bless you.


	6. Chapter 6

**Author's Notes: Hello everyone I know it has been some time since I updated but I hope this makes up for some of that. I own nothing.**

_Deep vengeance is the daughter of deep silence- Vittorio Alfieri_

Katara looked around her, not believing her eyes. She was no longer in the Fire Nation with her brother and friends, she was back in her village, but it was not as they had left it when they went with Aang. It was full of people and she knew them, they were the waterbenders that the Fire Nation had taken and imprisoned, leaving the village a desolate, half-empty place. Now they were back, but not as they had been. They were thing and gaunt with the same vacant and hopeless look that the earthbenders on the rig had had and when Katara ran up to one and took his hand the man had jerked away from her, terror in his eyes, cringing as if he expected a blow.

"I am not going to hurt you." Katara said, making sure to keep her voice calm so as not to frighten them. "What happened to you?" She asked in a gentle voice tinged with concern.

"The Fire Nation happened to them." A voice said behind her. It was a woman's voice, it sounded somewhat familiar but Katara could not place it. She turned toward the source of the sound and stared in shock.

It was her, another Katara, but at the same time not at all like Katara. This one was a fully grown woman possessed of beauty which was both compelling and terrifying at the same time. She was clad in the armor of their tribe and carried a helmet under her arm and had a sword belted at her waist. Her hair was shaved at the sides and cut short to form a wolfs-tail like her brother's. Despite her rather bizarre appearance the older Katara radiated strength and power.

"Who are you?" Katara asked.

"I am you, the you that you could be."

"I do not understand."

"Yes you do. I am the you that you wanted to be, the part which raged at the Fire Nation ships when they appeared on the horizon. The you who has always stood in silence when horrible things happened around you. The you who wept impotent tears when your people were rounded up and herded like cattle onto those ships and were taken away, never to return. The young you who could do nothing but run when your mother was slaughtered. The you who secretly wanted to be a boy so you could train to fight like your brother instead of having to care for the young and the old of your tribe. I am the you who could still be."

"What do you mean?" Katara asked again.

"You have become strong since you have left your tribe, strong enough to go toe-to-toe with the princess of the Fire Nation, but you could be stronger. You could have the power to crush her and her brother, who betrayed your trust, their father and the whole of that wrenched nation. They are evil and they deserved to be punished, to have what they did to others done to them. You could do that I could help you."

"Help me in what way?" Katara said, becoming suspicious of the being before her.

"I can make you stronger, stronger than even the Avatar. Strong enough to punish those who hurt you, to destroy their whole nation and everyone in it for their crimes. All that you have to do is let me in."

"I don't want that!" Katara cried, horrified at the thought.

"Why not? They are guilty and deserve to be punished."

"Not all of them are guilty." Katatra argued, thinking of some of the people they had met in the Fire Nation.

"Yes they are!" The older Katara insisted, clearly becoming agitated. "Everyone from the Fire Nation is guilty!"

"What are you?!" Katara demanded. "I refuse to believe that you are me, that I would ever become so hateful!"

"I am not Hate." The being said. "Hate is little more than Rage, it is meaningless, unjustified violence without rhyme or reason. I am more than that, I am Vengeance and I am perfectly justified. The guilty need to be punished and punish them I shall."

"No!" Katara screamed; "I am not like that! I don't want vengeance! I want the violence to end!"

"Is that what you really want? I think I hear some doubt in your voice." It paused for a moment and then smiled, a patient and calculating smile which Katara found to be deeply disturbing.

"Very well, you are not ready for my help yet, but you will be. I shall leave but I am always near, when you are ready, when you see injustice and desire to punish those responsible call and I shall be there." With that the scene faded and Katara awoke.

**Author's Notes: Well, what did you think? I tried to capture what Katara felt, do you think that I succeeded? Also, do you think that Vengeance was one of a kind? Who else would you like to see, let me know in the reviews. Till then please pray for the victims of the California, some of whom are still in the hospital in critical condition. Also Asia Bibi, the Pakistani woman under threat of death in Pakistan for her Christian faith, as are other men and women there and elsewhere and everyone else who needs prayer. Bye, may Jesus bless you and Merry Christmas.**


	7. Merry Christmans

**Hey everyone! Tis the season again, Merry Christmas! I hope that you all are having a good time and have a great day. While having said great time please remember to pray for those less fortunate, including those missing in the US from tornados and those held unjustly. I will be working on the stories and will try to have at least some of them before New Year. Thanks and may Jesus bless you. **


	8. schedual

Hey you'll I hope that you all had a good Christmas. Just want you all to know I will be working on the stories and will try to get at least one chapter done before classes start up again on January 4th, fortunately my class load will not be as heavy as it was last time so it may not slow me down as much. Till then please pray for my uncle, who is having health problems, a friend of my family who was recently injured in an accident, Nabila Bibi and Asia Bibi, Pakistani Christians persecuted for their faith, the girls kidnapped in Africa, the Americans held abroad, those effected by the tornados and all those who need prayer. Thanks may Jesus bless you and Happy New Year


	9. New Year

So, end of 2015! I wish you all a happy New Year and I pray that it is a good one for you and that Jesus blesses you and your endeavors. As the year ends I ask that you pray for all those who need prayer, including the victims of flooding in the US and a guy who was shot near where I live, my cousin who suffered a head injury, the victims of human trafficking and all who suffer from sickness or shortages of food or water and shelter and those persecuted for their faith. Thanks, I will see you around and may Jesus bless you.


	10. Apology

I want to apologize to those whom I promised a new chapter before school started and did not deliver, sorry. I also want to apologize if my chapters have been short or seemed off, I have been having trouble with my muse. I will try to do better in the future and I beg your indulgence and I am or will soon be working on those updates. Till then please pray for the twelve US marines missing in a helicopter accident and all others who need it as well as a missing ski instructor at Sugar Bowl. , including Pastor Saeed Abedini and the other Americans held in Iran. Iranians and Pakistani Christians persecuted for their faith, including Asia Bibi, under sentence of death, Pastor Aftab Gill accused of blasphemy, Nadia Bibi a Christian girl kidnapped in Pakistan and forced to marry her kidnapper and others in similar situation, including Saima Bibi whose family is going to court to try to get her back. Raif Badawi and his lawyer Waleed Abu al-Khair who have both been imprisoned in Saudi Arabia. Bye and may Jesus bless you.


	11. Chapter 11

**Author's Notes: Hey everyone, sorry that it has been so long, well here it is. As always I own nothing.**

_If you can't beat them, join them._

The spirit was old but it did not know how old and it would be too much effort to remember. It had drifted aimlessly through the Fade, eating when it could and fighting when it had to. It did not like fighting because that was too much work too. Just then its musings were interrupted as it detected the mind of another nearby. The creature sighed, expecting a battle and then relaxed as it recognized the mind as being that of a human. The creature decided that it was hungry enough that devouring the human would be worth the effort, provided that the human did not put up to much of an effort.

He soon found the human and let out an annoyed sigh, the human was old which meant that it had experience and was no mere apprentice mage on their harrowing. Still, it was decidedly fat and did not look like it would be much of a fight. The spirit's sigh had alerted the human and it turned from examining the area around him to focus on the spirit. The man did not look either surprised or frightened at the sight of the creature coming towards it. To the spirit's surprise the man greeted him with a bow.

"Greetings Spirit. Might I have the honor of knowing your name?"

"Oh, you recognize me then? Good, that will make things easier. I am Sloth."

"I am honored to meet you Master Sloth." Sloth liked being called 'Master' and did not mind that the human had not given his name. It would not really matter and Sloth did not care enough to bother to ask.

"You know why I am here?" He asked, if the prey knew then the human would be frightened and Sloth could use that to his advantage, which would make the fight easier.

"Indeed Master Sloth, by all means feel free to precede."

"What?" Sloth asked confused, never before had prey reacted this way.

"I said you may precede at your leisure."

"Most people would resist." Sloth said, more confused than ever.

"That is true, but fighting is such work." The human said with a slight shudder. "Throwing yourself at the enemy, weathering their attacks. Having sweat drip from your body as it shakes in exhaustion, fighting to find just one more ounce of energy to hold on for just a few more seconds to launch one more attack. No, I am far too old for that nonsense." Sloth could only agree, the spirit felt tired just hearing the human's words.

"For a human you are quite perceptive. So many beings seem to want to run around all day without a thought for anyone but themselves." The human gave a sympathetic nod.

"I quite agree," he said as he sat down on the ground. "So many people run around, wasting energy when they could accomplish their goals by just letting what they want come to them." Sloth could only nod in agreement as it too lay down, it had been moving around quite a bit of late.

"The world would be a better place if more people had such a sensible view of the world." He told the human.

"Alas," the human said; "Few people have gained such wisdom. The young do not want to take anything slowly, except perhaps gaining wisdom on such things. It is only the old who can appreciate the simple pleasure of sitting in the sun and just letting oneself be lulled into a nice…quite…peaceful sleep on a warm day." Sloth wanted to agree but found speaking to be too much work. It had been growing warmer and its eyes had been growing heavier as the human continued to talk and the more he thought about it the more a nice nap sounded like a good idea. The human would likely get away but that was alright, he probably would have been too much effort to eat or possess anyway.

As the spirit drifted off to sleep Iroh smiled and chuckled softly. For all their fearsome appearance and reputation most spirits were not difficult to handle if one kept one's head. In time he would awaken and leave the Spirit World and he settled down to wait. He could most likely have taken the creature had it come to battle but he had too much respect for the beings who dwelt here to engage one in battle if he did not have to. Besides, fighting would have been so much work.

**Author's Notes: Hey all did you like that? I wanted to go for humor and see things from the spirit's point of view, what did you think? Please let me know. Till next time please pray for all who need it, including those held by ISIS, human traffickers, those suffering for their faith and a girl near where I live who was badly injured and whom I have been told will die short of a miracle. Bye and may Jesus bless you.**


	12. Belgium

Hello everyone, I know some people find these announcements annoying and I do apologize but after all that has happened I feel that I must do this. You all probably know what has happened in Belgium and I ask you to please pray for those who have been injured. As you know ISIS has claimed credit for the attack. There are also unconfirmed rumors that they intend to celebrate Good Friday by crucifying a priest on that day, this has not been confirmed but it is possible. I ask you all to please pray for him, the injured and their families and the families of those who have died and that there be no further attacks and all who need prayer. Bye and may Jesus bless Belgium and all of you.


	13. Chapter 13

I know that it has been a while since I last updated. I have not forgotten and I will try to get an update soon. While you wait please pray for my brother-in-law's aunt. They say she does not have much time and as I am a Christian and she is not you see my concern. Thank you and may Jesus bless you.


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